A Japanese patent document 1 cited below discloses a gadget and a gadget-associated icon displayed on a screen of an information processing apparatus such a personal computer or the like. In this case, the icon on the screen, which is a small-sized graphic representation depicting a gadget functionality, is operated (i.e., “touched”) by a user, for performing the function corresponding to the gadget, or for calling a software program corresponding to the gadget. For example, when an icon corresponding to a stop-watch gadget is displayed on the screen, the icon is operated to execute a stop-watch function. The gadget, which is itself a small program, provides an easy access for the user to a frequently-used tool. The gadget is also known as a “widget.”
Patent document 1: JP-A-2009-26239
In recent years, thanks to the progress of Graphical User Interface (GUI) technology for in-vehicle apparatus, the gadget is used in the in-vehicle apparatus with its associated icon. In that case, the user may be obliged to recognize the icon while the vehicle is stopping, or may also be obliged to recognize the icon while the vehicle is traveling. Therefore, the recognizability of the icon, especially while the vehicle is traveling, should carefully be examined for the improvement of the vehicle safety.
While some gadget can be executed by a simple operation of the user, other gadget demands a complex operation for the execution, such as a series of predetermined operations or the like. The operation of the icon may thus lead to the following problems, depending on the nature of the icon. That is, the configuration of the gadget associated with the icon may vary one by one. The “complex” gadget demanding the complex operation may impede other driving operations if the user inadvertently operated the icon associated with that complex gadget during the travel of the vehicle, while the gadget may not impede the driving operations at the vehicle stopping time. In other words, the user's need for easy icon recognition is high, in terms of allowing the user to easily recognize and determine whether a specific icon is associated with a “simple” gadget or a “complex” gadget.